


The Mug

by mizuki



Category: James Bond (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:13:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizuki/pseuds/mizuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-Skyfall, Ben Whishaw as Q, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner. Q-centric with a partial look at how he got his Q scrabble mug as seen in the trailers for Skyfall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mug

 

* * *

Nobody knew who left the Scrabble board game on the sitting table in adjoining office to M's office. The box was innocently left on the table. For a while no one touched it, it wasn't until MI-6's Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner opened the box one day while waiting for M to finish a meeting. He got as far as setting up the board and the pieces, when he was called away. Again the board was left there to sit.

* * *

During one very early morning, while the office was just starting to come to life, Q noticed the board sitting there. He approached the board curiously; picking up the Q tile he smiled mischievously… Once again the board was left to sit on the table but with a single Q tile placed squarely in the middle.

Q was on his way to Tanner's office to notify him about changing the firewall settings of the internal computers, when he decided to make a detour to see if there was any change to the Scrabble game. He didn't expect there to be any answer to his placement of the Q tile on the board, but was pleasantly surprised to see two other letter tiles on the board. Pushing up his horn rimmed glasses, he quirked a smile and placed another letter on the board.

Every once in a while, when it took his fancy, Q would casually stroll by to check the progress of the game. He was playing nice, considering his vast vocabulary; he decided to play a word he knew that his opponents would immediately recognize as him.

On a surprise chance, Q walked past M's office and stopped to see his boss pick up a tile and place it on the board. He smiled and continued on his way, he now knew one of his opponents in the game.

Months passed when Tanner finally had another chance to see the board. All the players had very good vocabulary, but one player was clearly in the lead. Some of the words he found on the board were: 'Matriarch', 'Balustrade', and the beginnings of the word 'Quartermaste'. At this he smiled and immediately knew that Q was one of the players. Following the list of words he guessed that the other two players were M and an agent, as they seemed like the most probable to come across the Scrabble board.

* * *

Even as a computer genius, Q is and will always be a creature of habit. His usual routine of making a cup of Earl Grey before he started his work was known by all in the office after his first month working at MI-6. It was on a particularly cold morning, when he walked towards his work desk that he saw a mug with a red ribbon tied on the handle sitting there. Pulling off his messenger bag and windbreaker, he quirked a smile and brought the mug with him to the coffee room.

"You're early."

Q looked up from pouring the hot water into the mug and continued his usual preparations for his tea, "Not as early as you, Tanner."

The older man silently smiled at him, and nodded towards the mug in his hand, "Nice mug you have there."

Q smirked at him as he passed Tanner by the door, "Thank you for purchasing it."

Tanner's eyes widened in surprise, then scoffed at Q's back and smiled as he muttered to himself, "Welcome to MI-6, Tanner."

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely love the fact that Ben Whishaw's Q has his own Q Scrabble mug. So of course I had to write a Q-centric fic looking at how he got it. I just have a lot of Q-Whishaw feels, someone help.


End file.
